Strike Two
The best thing about the Obama campaign so far is that he has seemed to understand that cowering in fear of being attacked is no way to run for president. His airy tossing-off of James Dobson’s loony Bible rant last week was a great example of the way modern campaigning should be done. This week, however, hasn’t been so good. Obama’s disavowal of Wesley Clark’s completely reasonable observation that getting shot down over North Vietnam 40 years ago does not qualify John McCain for command, as Lefty astutely observes below, is going to cost him. Not only does it open the way for Repugs and their media enablers to bring on the swiftboaters, it makes people like me believe Obama hasn’t got the cojones we thought he had, and makes us fear the next capitulation to a Republican talking point.
This morning, here it is: “Obama to expand Bush’s faith based programs.” Seems to me last thing the United States needs, after a generation of being poisoned by politico-religious nonsense and eight years of overtly Jesus-based governing, is anything that doesn’t help redraw the church/state line. Even though that’s the hellbound atheist puke in me talking, I object just as strongly as a liberal Democrat. Franklin D. Roosevelt believed that private charity was unable to meet the social service needs of Americans during the Depression. Not only was the federal government the only entity big enough to meet those needs, it alone possessed the moral authority to meet those needs, as the collectively expressed will of the American people. FDR’s position had everything to do with the civil religion all Americans share, and nothing to do with the sectarian dogmas that divide us. So if Obama were to announce a New Deal-style war on poverty or a Cabinet-level department of social services, I’d be down with it. But spreading dollars to church groups and expecting that they won’t be used to proselytize? No.
So that’s two strikes on Obama this week, and Tuesday’s breakfast isn’t even over. At least with the holiday Friday, it’s a short week.
Posted: July 1st, 2008 under Best of the Blogs.
Comments: 7
Comments
Comment from Josh Hammond
Time: July 1, 2008, 6:43 am
Strike two? Are you serious? Maybe a foul ball, but strike two, let alone strike one?! It seems like everyone wants this guy out before the first inning. Hold on. The game has just begun.
I’ll repeat what I said to Lefty in his tombstone, and make a different observation about Obama’s interest in faith-based programs. Half the Democrats in the primaries, including Lefty, were prepared have Hillary be the commander-in-chief with no military service or executive experience. McCain is not staking his preparedness on command experience, but his experience and knowledge on the Armed Services committee. Clark should have attacked his judgment, not his lack of command experience.
I see Obama’s interest in faith-based programs as the flip-side of his challenge to Dobson, backing up words with deeds. One in every five voters is evangelical, and Bush got 87 percent of them. Any dent with this voting bloc and Obama’s chances greatly improve. Obama has a strategy to win Virginia, maybe Georgia and North Carolina where there are strong evangelical voting blocs. This makes sense to me, and for perspective, it is a tiny part of his agenda.
Comment from Sasha
Time: July 1, 2008, 7:25 am
Let’s get down to the real issue. Who are you voting for? Obama. Ok, he gets 73 strikes before McCain even gets a notice. So let’s not nitpick every damn thing he says. Unless, of course, McCain gets the same scrutiny.
Comment from timr
Time: July 1, 2008, 9:18 am
jab, the MSM war against all who would even think that st john is anything but the GREATEST LEADER OF ALL TIME has started, and you see how they will twist words around to make st john the HERO. This is only the begining of the deityification(I am not sure if I spelled this right, but what I mean is the MSM trying to turn McCain into a new god, can’t find in dictionary) of st john, all bow down to our new greatest ever leader. The MSM has picked sides,do we even need an election? Go back to the Daily Howler columns in 1999-2000 and read about how the MSM totally trashed Gore. They have already started on Obama. I don’t know how this election will turn out, but with the MSM on st john’s side, Obama will have to bring a mighty big stick just to get the real story out.
Comment from Amos N. Handy
Time: July 1, 2008, 9:24 am
deitification
Comment from Amos N. Handy
Time: July 1, 2008, 9:32 am
“Obama to expand Bush’s faith based programs.” …
Holy Mackerel there Andy, maybe he’ll appoint Rev. Wright or Al Sharpton to run da program …
Comment from Josh Hammond
Time: July 2, 2008, 5:20 am
Meanwhile, McCain went to church on Sunday for the first time in a long time. There you go. Praise the Lord and pass the amunition.
Comment from Josh Hammond
Time: July 2, 2008, 5:38 am
What I have picked up from other commentary is the Obama’s real objective here is to show that he can be everyone’s president, even though they may not vote for him. This is a page from Bush who courted the black vote, much for the same reasons. Of course we know that Bush turned on his election promises.
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